or requirements that we talked about? >> guest: well, george washington didn't think a lot of the militia. he grouched about it at times, but he also made remarks that allowed how the militia was a useful thing to have and couldn't have bill the army without the existence of the militia and people in the militias, and more importantly, volunteers and others who knew how to use firearms, and that was key. >> host: so people used these on the frontier, protection against the indians, native americans, hunting certainly, and then during the colonies, some sense of responsibility for the common good. >> guest: exactly. the right, the common law right to have and use firearms came with a civic duty to use them when called upon. >> host: who was in charge of the militias? >> guest: well, local commanders, towns had them, in new england certainly, and later on, they became more broadly based, but as tensions and hostilities mounted between the british authorities and the colonists, the approach to revolutionary war, it was seen by many of the leaders at the time as an advantage that we americans kne
